Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864). Famous for such pieces as "Oh Susanna" and "My Old Kentucky Home". He is considered as "the father of American music".

Sadly he died young (just like other great composers Chopin, Mozart, etc.) Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

Stephen Foster died on January 13, 1864, at the age of 37. He had been impoverished while living at the North American Hotel at 30 Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (possessing exactly 38 cents) when he died. In his pocket was a scrap of paper with only the enigmatic, "dear friends and gentle hearts", written on it. His brother Henry described the accident in the New York theater-district hotel that led to his death: confined to bed for days by a persistent fever, Stephen tried to call a chambermaid, but collapsed, falling against the washbasin next to his bed and shattering it, which gouged his head. It took three hours to get him to the hospital, and in that era before transfusions and antibiotics, he succumbed after three days. In his hand when he died there was a letter that said "dear friends and gentle hearts".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Foster

Here are some links to help formulate a biography--I tried to do it for you but I could not muster anything original: (that is if you, Mr. Breemer, or Mr. Robert decide to add this to the database)

Now with my recording. I am submitting a little known waltz composed by him when he was only 13 years old. (Funny that I record pieces composed by the youthful composers--i.e. Liszt Waltz) I believe that the waltz is named after a county in the state of Pennslyvania or in New York. [Herr Olaf, was beduetet "Ortsname"?]

I used my keyboard for this one. But I promise you I will re-record it on a real piano once I have the opprotunity (two or three weeks). There are a few slips, but I hope they are minor. (Two hours of playing the same piece over and over really gets to one's head) If it the slips are too big I will gladly re-record it this weekend.

Thank you very much,

-Julius

p.s. you can find the sheet music recently posted in the "What are you learning now" thread.

p.p.s I really need a real piano...anyone have a couple thousand dollars to give away

_________________Madam, what makes you think that I play with my hands?

That was nice, Julius. Very sweetly played - good tempo - correct notes. If you ever do re-record this, the only suggestion I have is to put a slightly longer pause at the end of the sections. It sounds like you jump in a bit too fast.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

It would be nice if this would go onto the website only as a temporary recording until I have the opprotunity to replace it with an accustic piano recording. I would not say this if the composer had lots of other recordings on the site (example: Bach) because it would be surpassed by other recordings. But since this will be the only recording under Foster, I need to find a piano and record it again.

I'll provide the biography, just give me a few to read and write.

-JG

p.s. I've been thinking of asking the choir master at our local church if I could use their Yahama grand, but the only thing is that there is no absolute silence...people like to talk and hang out inside the church...

_________________Madam, what makes you think that I play with my hands?

Thank you all. I must confess that there is an obvious error towards the end. It occurs during the repeat of the second to last section (the last section being the "conclusion"). I don't know which exact minute:second combo it took place, but it is there. And that little slip is bugging me....

After my classes today I will read all the links posted above and write a biography for Foster. Then hopefully soon I can rerecord it with a real (tuned) piano.

_________________Madam, what makes you think that I play with my hands?

Mr. Techneut here is the biography. Please read and correct any obvious errors (sometimes my naitive language gives me troubles ) or change anything you see fit to change. Also I attached a picture for you to use as well.

(I used multiple sources and compiled the basics of his life...the piano is only mentioned once....he was, afterall, a songwriter)

Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864)

Stephen Collins Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on the fourth of July, 1826 to the parents of William Foster and Eliza Tomlinson. Stephen Foster was the youngest of ten children (Stephen was actually the second youngest, but the tenth child died in infancy). Many consider him as the “father of American music.”
When he was a child, Foster received off and on private tutoring and some years at a private academy in Pittsburgh. Though he disliked school Foster became a learned person. Foster was not a child prodigy when it came to composing music, but nevertheless he was able to compose for voice, the flute, the piano, and several other common instruments. Foster had received music teaching from Henry Kleber; however Foster had already began to teach himself and it was said that Foster “accidentally” started to play the flageolet in a Pittsburgh music store, that within a few minutes he had so mastered it that he was able to play “Hail Columbia” in perfect tempo and accent.
His very first composition was entitled “Tioga Waltz” (1839, but published posthumously in 1896) and was composed for the flute. He was only fifteen years old when he played it for the commencement of the Athens Academy (Tioga, Pennsylvania). His first published work was composed to the poetry of George P. Morris, it was entitled “Open Thy Lattice Love” (1844). During his youth, he and few friends (his closest friend being Charles Shiras) sat by the piano and sung minstrels and few of their own compositions. Undoubtedly his most famous work, “Oh Susanna!” (1848) and “Old Uncle Ned” (1848) were composed for this group.
At twenty years old, Stephen Foster worked for Dunning’s (his brother) steamship firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. While working as a bookkeeper, Foster sold a dozen, or so, works to local publishers. In 1849 Foster published “Foster's Ethiopian Melodies”, which included "Nelly Was a Lady", made famous by the Christy Minstrels. In 1850, Foster moved back to Philadelphia where he married twenty-year-old Jane Denny MacDowell (and their daughter was born a year later). After moving back, Stephen had finally decided to become a full-time songwriter. It was during this point in his life, when Foster composed most of his greatest works, works including: "Camptown Races" (1850), "Nelly Bly" (1850), "Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee River," 1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853), "Old Dog Tray" (1853), "Hard Times Come Again No More" (1854) and "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair" (1854, dedicated to his wife).
Throughout his life he was inspired by “Eithopian” and minstrel songs, yet he integrated musical characteristics from various cultures like Irish melodies, German songs, and Italian operas. Even more impressive was his respect for all races and cultures. During a time of slavery Stephen sought to humanize and build respect by demanding the performers of his works to show empathy for the slaves and to transmit this feeling of respect to the audience.
In 1853, Foster held exclusive contracts with the music publisher “Firth, Pond and Company”. However, in a time before copyright laws his works were purchased for next to nothing (supposedly he was paid only one-hundred dollars for “Oh Susanna”). His relationship with his wife declined and in 1854 the couple went their separate ways. Deeply stricken with the death of his parents, 1856, and a decline in his health; Foster’s later compositions fell in popularity to his earlier works (only the song “Beautiful Dreamer” (1864) ranks amongst his earlier works).
Bedridden due to an illness Foster was too sick to move. In an attempt to call for a chambermaid, Foster sustained a head injury when he collapsed onto a washtub. It took three hours to get him to a doctor; three days later, on January 13th 1864, at the age of 37, Stephen foster succumbed to his injuries. Although young and penniless, Stephen Collins Foster is considered an American legend and left behind an American songwriting legacy which is unsurpassed. Even today children learn the lyrics to “Oh Susanna” , also at the annual Kentucky Horse Derby, his work “My Old Kentucky Home” is sung with band accompaniment.

I hope this is good enough. I spent three hours reading sources, compiling and typing. (Let's hope I don't record anyone famous who is not on the list and be responsible for the biography..... )

-Julius

_________________Madam, what makes you think that I play with my hands?

Thanks Julius, that looks like just the sort of bio we needed. Rest assured, I easily need 3 hours on a bio as well if I want to do it properly and not just grab some text from the web.

But now I see a bit of a problem... I never realized that this was not an original piano composition. Or is it ? The bio says it was composed for flute. We have always made a point of hosting only original compositions (unless the transcription was made by a composer famous in his own right). In fact I recently declined creating a Corelli page for Peter Schuttevaar's La Folia video on the grounds that Corelli did not write for keyboard at all and we do not know where this transcription came from.

So in all honesty I am not sure what to do with this now. It is nice music, well played, and we sure would have it on the site. But a page that suggests Foster was a piano composer ? Hmmmm.... I'll need to discuss with Robert. Perhaps we need to have a Miscellaneous page for stuff like this.

I read that the tioga waltz was for the flute from one site. And on another it had no mention of what it was composed for. Someway it must have been transcribed either by Foster himself or someone close because how does a flute piece have two staves? Somewhere in time it must have been transcribed for the piano, sadly on the sheet music it has no mention who or when it was!

Whatever you decide to do, it is fine by me. The piece was on my piano sheet music DVD and it looked "easy" so I decided to give it a go. Maybe next time I should read up on the life of the composer before practicing the piece.

Thanks anyways,

-Juuf

p.s. Honestly, if you decline it, don't feel bad. I understand that the site has to be centered around something and not become a general database like http://www.classicalarchives.net ....maybe I should just sign my name on the top of the score and say it was my transcription

_________________Madam, what makes you think that I play with my hands?

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